On the far, western wall of the Desert Vista wrestling room hang
nine pictures of the school's state champions.

Every now and then Robbie Mathers made his way over there this
season to find himself looking back.

"I wanted to make sure I was getting better than I was when it was
taken," Mathers said. "Every day you don't get better is a day
wasted."

No worries there.

Mathers became the school's first two-time state champion and 10th
overall on Friday after winning the 125-pound Division I title at
Tim's Toyota Center in Prescott Valley.

The junior's accomplishment will send coach David Gonzalez to the
store to buy a picture frame for Mathers' new picture, but he isn't
buying just one.

The Thunder had three state champions - the second most in school
history (four in 2008) - to finish third in the team race as junior
Kendal Love (135) and sophomore Alex Bambic (215) also came home
with pictures of them standing on top of the podium to be put on
the wall.

"And they're all coming back next year," Gonzalez said with a big
smile.

So after beating Tucson Sunnyside's Lucio Murillo, a two-timer
himself, Mathers took it upon himself to run a few wind sprints
under the grandstand in the bowels of Tim's Toyota Center shortly
after his 6-3 win ended.

"I want three and it starts now," said Mathers, who finished 39-3
on the season. "I just felt the need to keep working."

The second one didn't come easy.

Murillo nearly got the first takedown right after the opening
whistle, but Mathers was able to scramble out of it. The match was
eventually stopped because Mathers sustained a cut on his forehead
on the initial shot by Murillo.

"I was a little dazed, but it actually made me focus more," said
Mathers, who gave Murillo his only two defeats of the season. "I
came back with more of an edge."

Murillo eventually got a first-period takedown, but Mathers escaped
with nine seconds left in the first period to pull within
2-1.

Mathers deferred to start the second, and Murillo chose down. With
33 seconds left in the period, Mathers was able to lock up a tilt
for a two-point near fall and 3-2 lead.

"We've been working on his tilt, and it's become a real weapon,"
Gonzalez said. "It changed the match and put him in control."

He then chose down to start the third period, escaped and secured
the win with a takedown with 1:26 left in the match.

"I had a lead, but I didn't think about winning it until the final
seconds because there was too much time left," Mathers said. "Once
I won it there was a sense of relief. All of that work and time
meant something."

Gonzalez wasn't surprised by Mathers' decision to get some running
in shortly after getting his hand raised.

"It's an indicator of who he is and what drives him," Gonzalez
said. "Winning a third one is already on his mind. That's just the
way his mind works."

Love gets his hands on a sick pair of
shoes

Nearly 15 years after the death of wrestling legend Dave Schultz,
Desert Vista assistant coach John Matthews wore a pair of red Asics
Tiger wrestling shoes he was given during the Olympic Trials to a
Thunder practice.

The very pair he wore when he beat Schultz.

Cool, huh?

So cool that Love slyly asked how he could, maybe, possibly, have
them.

The answer was simple - win state.

Not sure when the exchange is going to happen, but it is going to
happen after Love won the 135-pound title.

"I pulled them off the shelf and dusted them off," Matthews said.
"I wore them and Kendall said, ‘Those are sick. How can I get
those?'

"If that's what it took, I am proud to turn them over."

Love earned them by beating Tucson Sunnyside's Andres Piedra 3-2 in
the finals to become the school's 11th state champion.

"I have never seen state, never knew what it was about and my first
time I am here I win it," said Love, who transferred in from
Indiana where he didn't make state as a sophomore. "This is the top
accomplishment in my life."

After a scoreless first, Love got an escape in the second period
off the whistle and then got a takedown on the edge on his patented
arm drag for a 3-0 lead. Piedra escaped by the end of the second to
make it a two-point match.

Piedra escaped with 1:42 left to close within 3-2. Love was dinged
with a stalling warning but did enough to ward off another stalling
call and any of the shot attempts by Piedra for the win.

Love fully appreciates the gesture by Matthews and plans to cash
in.

"What an incredible feeling," Love said. "It's an honor to get
those shoes and I take it to heart. Ever since I've come here I
have been treated like I have never been before. There are some
great people in that wrestling room, and I'm happy to be part of
it."

Bambic wins bloody rivalry match

A few years back Alex Bambic wore braces.

The metal mouth syndrome is hard to hide especially on a wrestling
mat. Wrestlers are not the most sympathetic and have been known to
purposely rake the mouth of competitors who have braces much like a
boxer going after an opponent's bloodied eye.

Bambic didn't forget or forgive.

A little of that payback for it came Friday night when the Desert
Vista sophomore beat Corona del Sol's Simon Allen, 9-4, for the
Division I 215-pound title at Tim's Toyota Center.

"He was mean as a kid," Bambic said. "He never let up. I wanted to
stop him from winning state."

Bambic became the school's 12th state champion and pulled off a
rare feat - a sophomore winning a state title in one of the two
largest weight classes.

"I told to him to go after it and leave no doubt," Gonzalez. "He
wrestled a smart match, probably the best of his life. He wasn't
going to be denied."

Allen (45-1) had his right kneecap come out of socket and pop back
into place early in the first period to hinder his quickness and
strength, but make no mistake Bambic (37-3) was setting the pace
from the start although he couldn't finish most of his offensive
attacks.

He got a four-point move in the second and then took advantage of a
relatively new rule. Bambic was riding Allen, leading 4-3, when
they went out of bounds. When Allen took injury time it allowed
Bambic to choose down on the restart with eight seconds left.

Bambic got a reversal in that short period for a 6-3 lead after
two. An escape and then the clinching takedown with 1 minute and 10
seconds left put the finishing touches on a rivalry that heated up
at last year's state meet when they split matches with Allen
finishing third.

"With about 30 seconds left I knew it was going to happen," he
said. "I just had to finish him off. It's a great feeling."

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